vehicles

Someday, your car may be keeping an eye on your heart health.

Ford announced today it has developed a driver's seat that can monitor the occupant's heart function with the help of six embedded sensors on the backrest that detect "electrical impulses generated by the heart" without actually contacting the skin.

The technology was developed at the Ford European Research and Innovation Center in Aachen, Germany, with the help of researchers at the RWTH Aachen University.

Ford said it can envision sending data to "remote medical services" and providing "alerts of imminent cardiovascular issues such as a heart attack."

"As always in medicine, the earlier a condition is detected, the easier it is to treat, and this technology even has the potential to be instrumental in diagnosing conditions drivers were previously unaware they had," Dr. Achim Lindner, medical officer at the Ford research center, said in a statement.

Although not all companies are necessarily jumping on the health-and-wellness bandwagon, the use of driver assistance systems in vehicles is on the rise. Such systems deliver everything from assisted breaking to adaptive cruise control that speeds up or slows down the car based on road conditions. Regardless, they all have the same goal in mind as Ford's heart-monitor offering: improving safety.… Read more

To power its upcoming test fleet of electric vehicles, BMW announced AeroVironment as the preferred supplier and installer for the ActiveE's 240-volt home charging dock.

Based on the 1-Series, the BMW ActiveE has a 32-kWh lithium ion battery pack that provides a 100-mile range. The AeroVironment EVSE-RS charging station uses the industry standard SAE J1772 connector to deliver approximately 25 miles of driving range per hour of charging time. Using the EVSE-RS charger, a completely drained battery can be fully recharged in 4 to 5 hours.

BMWs aren't the only electric cars the EVSE-RS can charge--AeroVironment's weather-proof … Read more

As Advanced Driver Assistance Systems become more prevalent in the vehicle industry, their market value will grow at an exponential rate, a new study from ABI Research has found.

This year alone, the market value of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which are built by vendors, is expected to hit $10 billion, the research firm reported today. ABI Research forecasts the ADAS market to reach a value of $130 billion in 2016.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems offer several important functions for drivers, including adaptive cruise control that speeds up or slows down the car based on road conditions; warnings when the vehicle starts to drift into another lane; and low-speed collision mitigation. ADAS has been available in some luxury vehicles for well over a decade. However, this year, ADAS will start making its way to "higher-volume" cars, ABI Research says, including the Ford Focus and Mercedes Benz C-Class.

The shift to more popular cars is the result of the improvement ADAS has undergone over the years. Aside from delivering better functionality, the systems are becoming easier to produce. That combination of better performance and lower production cost is helping to bring more car makers into the ADAS game.

New features in ADAS systems are also helping to attract new-car buyers. As ABI Research pointed out, simple warnings when a car drifts into another lane are no longer the norm for ADAS. Now, automakers are installing systems that can turn the car back into the lane. The systems are also capable of maintaining speed limit information to keep drivers informed.… Read more

Toyota opened the first hydrogen refueling station in the U.S. that is connected directly to a hydrogen pipeline.

Unlike nearby Santa Monica and Irvine hydrogen refueling stations, this new facility, located in Torrance, Calif., on the Toyota campus, doesn't use trucks to bring hydrogen gas on-site. Instead, it receives a steady supply of hydrogen fuel from Air Products' hydrogen pipeline, which produces hydrogen at its plants in Wilmington and Carson, Calif.

Shell leases the land from Toyota, and manages the station for the manufacturer. The station will service Toyota's fleet of 100 fuel cell test vehicles that … Read more

One of the first questions that comes up whenever we're discussing electric vehicles is, "Where am I going to charge the darn thing?" The new PlugShare app for iPhone (along with the network of users behind it) aims to help EV owners to charge in some pretty unorthodox places--for example, other people's driveways.

After downloading and installing the PlugShare app, you are presented with a Google Map filled with icons indicating user-submitted locations where EV drivers can plug in. There are separate categories for basic household plugs, privately owned J1772 charging stations, and public and commercial charging points.

You can elect to share your own outlet or charging point with PlugShare's other users, expanding the charging network. However, sharing an outlet is not a required condition for accessing PlugShare's network via the app. And you don't need to be an EV owner to try it out and, if you're feeling generous, to start sharing your electricity with your friendly neighborhood electric vehicle owners.

PlugShare is a free download in the Apple App Store. An Android version is said to be coming soon. … Read more

It's not the biggest or fastest electric vehicle on the market, but when it comes to the U.S. later this year, the Mitsubishi's i will be the cheapest.

Formerly the iMiev, the 2012 Mitsubishi i (ES trim level) will have a starting price of $20,490 after the federal tax credit of $7,500. That makes the four-seater EV almost $5k less than the $32,780 Nissan Leaf. But that lower price also means less range and fewer features.

The Mitsubishi i is estimated to have an 85-mile range and a top speed of 80 mph. The … Read more

BMW unveiled its production version of the ActiveE electric vehicle at the 2011 New York International Auto show. The carmaker plans to ship 700 EVs to the U.S. for long-term customer testing this fall. Priced at $499 per month with a $2,250 down payment for a 24-month lease, the BMW ActiveE is one of the more affordable BMWs on the market. The trade-off, of course, is its limited range.

The BMW ActiveE is being billed by the company as a no-compromise electric vehicle. A zero tailpipe emissions vehicle theoretically means zero guilt, and yet you still get the … Read more

WASHINGTON--The auto and battery industries have come up with some impressive electric vehicles. Now they're wondering how to make money on them.

The Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt are at the head of a parade of plug-in and hybrid vehicles slated to come out in the next three years. At the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) conference here, auto executives said they were confident their products can deliver, but not everyone is sure how the demand for them will form.

With few plug-in vehicles actually in the market, the surrounding industry of component and charging infrastructure suppliers need to … Read more

BMW launched an app that gives conventional car drivers a hypothetical taste of electric-car living, but without the real-world hassle of range anxiety. The free BMW Evolve app is available for iPhone and Android phones and you don't need an electric vehicle to try it out. In fact, that's the point--the app is a little like a Tamagotchi for electric cars.

Using the app, each day you start out with a 100-mile range for your pretend EV. The app tracks your driving distance using the phone's GPS, and lets you "get charged" at destinations that … Read more